Stella Oduah Travels Out To Israel Despite Crisis

 

Despite the raging controversy over the purchase of two BMW armoured cars for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, has left the country on a trip to Israel.

It was learnt Wednesday that the minister left Nigeria on Tuesday, the day the House of Representatives initiated a probe into the car scandal, as part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s official delegation to the country.

Shortly after the House passed a motion that its Committee on Aviation should probe the car deal, the committee chair, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, in a statement, summoned the minister along with some other stakeholders to appear at a public hearing scheduled for yesterday on the transaction.

However, the committee said yesterday that the probe would go ahead as directed by the House as her absence would not affect its work.

The president, who yesterday set up a three-man administrative panel of inquiry to probe the car scandal, departed yesterday for Israel to participate in this year’s pilgrimage and for a state visit.

During the visit, Nigeria and Israel are expected to sign a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) to strengthen air ties between the two nations, with Oduah signing for her country.

But industry sources said her departure was reflective of the insensitivity displayed by the presidency and minister to the scandal involving the armoured car purchases, as Jonathan should have asked her to stay behind and asked the permanent secretary in the ministry to represent her.

With the constitution of the three-man panel by the president, Oduah is being probed on three fronts – the legislature, the presidency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – to determine her culpability or otherwise in the car purchase scandal.
Some of those who were not aware that the minister had left Nigeria on Tuesday ahead of the president's departure yesterday, raised eyebrows at her absence at the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the assumption that she did not turn up for the meeting apparently due to the heat generated by the purchase of the two bulletproof cars at a total cost of  $1.6 million (N255 million).

Indeed, the swirling protest over her involvement in the car scandal spilled into the streets yesterday as two groups, comprising Oduah's supporters and antagonists, clashed during a protest in Abuja.